Oxford University is encouraging students to use ChatGPT and will give all of its students free access to the tool.
The UK’s oldest university will also become the first to offer free access to ChatGPT’s top tier for free. All students and staff will be able to access the system through ChatGPT Edu, a version built specifically for educational institutions that includes more stringent rules on how data is used.
The launch and popularity of ChatGPT has caused anxiety across education, with teachers voicing concern that it could be used for cheating but could also undermine the ways that students learn.
Anne Trefethen, the University of Oxford’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Digital, said that “significant numbers of staff and students are already using generative AI tools”. During the rollout, the university is “encouraging safe and responsible use within a secure environment”, she said.
Oxford stressed that it offers “training and guidance on the safe and responsible use of generative AI, for both staff and students, emphasises ethical usage, critical thinking and responsible application”. Students will be offered special courses and can be recruited as “AI Ambassadors” to help promote the technology.
The university said that it had made the decision to help ensure that its graduates were ready for a world in which AI is widely used.
“University-wide access to ChatGPT Edu will support the development of rigorous academic skills and digital literacy, so that we prepare our graduates to thrive and lead by example in an AI-enabled world,” said Freya Johnston, pro-vice-chancellor for education. “Generative AI is also helping us to explore new ways of engaging with students, alongside our renowned face-to-face teaching and tutorial model, which emphasises critical thinking and contextual analysis.”
Oxford announced a collaboration with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in March. The five-year collaboration would give access to “research grant funding, enterprise-level security and cutting-edge AI tools to enhance teaching, learning and research”, they said at launch.
Work has already begun to use AI systems to digitise the collection at the university’s Bodleian Libraries, it said. The two organisations are also launching a research programme to examine how AI might impact society.
